


Unabridged and Overwhelmed

by Lokislittlearmy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir-centric, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23162194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokislittlearmy/pseuds/Lokislittlearmy
Summary: Chat Noir actually knew what he wanted when he first transformed, he told Ladybug once. He’d always dreamed of being a superhero, so when his kwami showed up it felt like fate.She wonders where he is now. She doubts he’s feeling great now, but it has to be better than sitting on a couch next to the son of the super-villain you just put away...right?---With Papillon behind bars, Ladybug and Chat Noir are left to deal with the fallout he’s created.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 5
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "I finally see myself,  
>  **Unabridged and overwhelmed,**  
>  A mess of a story I'm ashamed to tell,  
> But I'm slowly learning how to break this spell."  
>  _-Three, Sleeping At Last_

Ladybug and Chat Noir are perched upon the walls of Agreste Manor. They look down on the yard with unreadable expressions. Ladybug is sitting with her legs tucked tight against white brick, Chat crouched beside her.

Police sirens flash below them, the sound thankfully turned off. Less fortunately, news outlets have gathered around the outskirts. Past that, it seems everybody in Paris has come to get a glimpse. Some of the cameras are pointed up at them, not that either pay them any mind.

The first of the officers exit the building, looking back. The heros straighten up, shifting a little to peek. The crowd outside the gates grows louder.

They know the answer, but they need to see it to believe it. Not that they want to.

Gabriel Agreste leaves the front doors of the manor. His head is held high but his eyes are pointed to the ground. Like his pride keeps him from fully admitting his crime, but he can’t face the crowd ahead.

Chat Noir is shaking. He didn’t realize it until now, but he realizes once tears well up in his eyes. He shifts back. “I have to go.” That’s not going to be a great excuse to get out of the most pivotal point in their superhero careers. “My dad’s probably fuming wondering where I am right now.” The truth, honestly. He wouldn’t be surprised.

Nathalie exits next, also in handcuffs. Somehow, that hurts worse. Ladybug sighs. “Yeah. Go ahead. I’ll take care of his Miraculous.” Her voice is completely masked, like the end of a stressful akuma or a patrol where she’s still got an essay to finish.

At least they only have to worry about one of those now. Chat frowns. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you alone if you can’t handle this.” He doesn’t know. She could be closer than he thinks in real life. Maybe she knew Gabriel too.

She nods. “Yeah. Now go before one of the officers gets over here.” She nudges his knee with her elbow and gives him a smile.

He smiles back at her. “Thanks.” He’s off like a rocket. Not really sure where he’s going yet, but he can’t be Chat right now. Can’t really be Adrien, either.

Adrien ends up detransformed at Nino’s doorstep. Plagg peeks up from his jacket, but can’t offer much more than a “Sorry, kid.”

Adrien takes a breath and knocks. The door gets flung open in a matter of seconds, and Nino’s sweeping him inside without a question. They stand there with the door shut, holding each other for a few minutes.

The tears Adrien’s been holding back come in full force as the gravity of the situation hits him. His father is the one he’s been fighting for four years now, most of his high school career. That’s the reason he’s been so at odds, so absent, because he’s been making Adrien’s life a living hell. He’s not sure if the why matters at all.

And now, he’ll be praised on one side of the mask and pitied on the other. He can’t tell which one he hates more. He wonders how Ladybug will react once the initial shock is over. Or Chloe. Or the rest of his classmates. Marinette idolized his father. She’ll be devastated.

Adrien sniffles after a few minutes and pulls away. “Can we sit down?”

“Yeah, of course.” Nino guides Adrien to his room and to his bed. The room is clean for once. It’s weird sitting on a bed that’s made and looking across at a clear desk. Nino sets his headphones on the desk looks over solemnly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Where does he start? He can’t tell Nino about half the story, where he spent four years hiding and slinking around his own home without realizing just how warranted it was. He wonders briefly what would’ve happened if it was just Ladybug fighting, or if someone else had been chosen as Chat Noir. Would it have been different? Where would he be right now?

He’s crying again before he even realizes it. Nino’s arm wraps around his shoulders. Adrien sniffles, and the first words that come out of his mouth are a surprise to him. “Do you think Nathalie actually knew?”

Nino’s silent for a while. “I don’t know, man. She was his assistant, right? She had to have noticed his schedule.”

Adrien lets the silence drag. A stupid, single giggle escapes him. “Mister Agreste, don’t forget. You’re scheduled to destroy Paris at 1 today.” As soon as he jokes about it, he breaks down again. Nathalie helped him with his schedule and bent the rules more often than he’d ever admit to his father. Who would’ve known it was a habit of hers. Maybe it was pity that made her do it.

“You know,” Nino says quietly, “I think anyone in our class should’ve seen it coming. In, like, a really twisted way. You and Marinette are the only ones that Papillon never targeted.”

“Marinette?” Adrien looks up at him with bloodshot eyes. He’d never noticed, really. Or maybe he assumed she did get targeted, or it was in a nightmare of his. Those got more frequent as time went on. They’d get worse now, he was sure of it.

Nino nods. “Yeah. I’m not sure why. She’s always, like, super bubbly though, right? I figured she’s just a positive person.”

Adrien lets his head slump against Nino’s shoulder again. “He liked her. Her designs and stuff, I mean.” He shrugs.

There’s a knock on Nino’s door before his mom peeks her head in. “I knew I’d find you in here.” She opens the door fully. She’s still in her work uniform, hair a bit of a mess. She leans against the doorframe. “You stay as long as you need, honey.”

Nino shifts his weight a bit. “I thought you got out at six,” he mutters.

“Closed early. There’s a celebration tomorrow for Ladybug and Chat Noir, so a bunch of places will be closed for that too.” She pauses and lowers her gaze. “Sorry, Adrien.”

“It’s fine,” he mumbles. He’s gonna have to be at that, isn’t he? Smile and wave in front of a crowd like this is some big victory. And it is, he knows in the back of his mind that the needs of the many outweigh those of the few. But his entire life is taken away, and he doesn’t even have his own mother to run to anymore. A sob tears its way out of his throat.

Nino’s arm gets tighter around him. “Nobody would blame you if you don’t go. I think I’d hate them if I were in your shoes.”

“Nino,” his mother warns.

“What? I’m just saying,” he defends under his breath. He rubs Adrien’s arm at the next hitched breath.

His mom sighs. “I’m gonna start something for dinner. Let me know if you need anything.” She leaves, keeping the door open a crack.

It’s a little while later when the next knock comes. Nino is at his desk by now. Adrien is curled up on the edge of Nino’s bed with his nose in his phone. He’s scrolling through old photos, knowing fully that social media is a pit of hell right now. He’s been swiping away notifications for over an hour.

Nino’s mom answers the door, and the muffled voices carry through to the bedroom.

“Madame Lahiffe?” Ladybug asks quietly. “Hi. I’m really sorry to intrude. I was sent to see if Adrien is here. His friend Alya said to check?”

“Yes, he’s here. I’m not sure if he’ll really want to talk right now.”

“Oh, that’s okay! I’m not here to question him. As long as he’s safe and accounted for, that’s what matters for now.”

Adrien sighs. He knows he doesn’t need to, but he gets up anyway. He pads out to the living room, ignoring Nino’s whispered questions. Both of them look over at him. He must look like hell. He forgot to brush his hair this morning in the first place, and his eyes are still bloodshot.

Ladybug physically sinks in on herself. She can’t even look him in the eye, even as Nino’s mom ushers her in and closes the door behind her. “I’ll leave you two be for now.”

And then they’re alone. Just standing there. Adrien shifts awkwardly. He didn’t think this far. Nino’s door shuts completely, and he finally clears his throat. “Uh, do you wanna sit down?”

“Sure,” she replies quietly.

They sit beside each other, and it doesn’t help at all. Ladybug fidgets with her yo-yo string. It’s a habit she picked up a few years ago once she realized there was nothing else on her costume to fiddle with. At least Chat had his belt to spin and roll up or his staff to treat like a colorguard sabre or his belt.

He actually knew what he wanted when he first transformed, he told Ladybug once. He’d always dreamed of being a superhero, so when his kwami showed up it felt like fate. She’d laughed and told him about trying to trap Tikki in a cup, reminded him of their first meeting. “I guess we really are tied to each other,” he teased only to get her finger pushing him away by his forehead.

She wonders where he is now. Probably with his father, watching the news. She hopes he’s feeling triumphant, unlike her. She remembers his face when they first found the hideout, though. The way he’d cowered. She doubts he’s feeling great now, but it has to be better than sitting on a couch next to the son of the super-villain you just put away...right?

She coughs. “The police will want to question you at some point,” she murmurs. “They don’t actually suspect you, but they’re trying to be thorough.”

Adrien nods. “Yeah. I’ll be here until further notice, so I’m free to talk whenever.” He leans back into the couch cushion.

Ladybug nods. There’s no way Adrien knew anything anyway. She couldn’t fathom that this sweet boy would let such a secret slide. Which means he had no idea, and just lost his father and...whoever Nathalie Sancoeur was to him. “I’m sorry,” she admits. “I wish it was anybody else.”

It’s a minute before Adrien says anything. Tears well up in his eyes, and his words come out choked. _Yeah, me too,_ he wants to say, but that’s not really fair. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve seen the signs.” Like that scarf he never took off that covered the brooch. Or the absence in his life. Or the fact that he made all of Adrien’s friends miserable. Or the book that he found. Or literally anything else.

“It’s not your fault either.” She looks over at him. “People do bad things, but it’s their decision. You wouldn’t have been able to stop him even if you did know.”

Adrien shrugs. He knows she’s right, but it still hurts. “I just wish things were different, too.”

They sit in silence for a few more minutes. Ladybug is the first to stand. “I should go let the police know you’re accounted for,” she says quietly. “Um...I don’t exactly have a business card or anything, otherwise I’d say to reach out if you need anything.”

“I’ll just scream to the void,” Adrien tries to joke as he pushes himself up. It only gets a quiet chuckle. “It’s okay. I’m friends with Alya, so I’m sure if it’s an absolute emergency she’ll find some way.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s a powerhouse.” Ladybug shifts awkwardly. “I really am sorry. Chat Noir and I will do everything we can to help you, I promise.” She distinctly doesn’t mention his absence right now. She’ll have to explain it eventually, he knows, so he should really craft up some excuse to give her.

For now, he just nods. “Thanks. I know it’s not you. You’re just doing your job.” It’s all he really knows to say. Nino and his mom are probably stuck with their ears to the door listening.

He doesn’t blame her anyway. He was the one that came up with the stupid plan after a full day of fighting the akuma. Use a tracker, let one of their Miraculous get taken, and see where it goes. She looked almost as mortified as he did when it stopped in the center of Agreste Manor.

She sighs. She has no idea what to say that wouldn’t be super rude here. Or give away her identity through knowing way too much about him. She looks around at the apartment. There’s a picture of Nino with his younger brother and Adrien in front of the high school, all grinning widely, sitting on a shelf over the television. It’s placed right among the rest of the family pictures.

Near the end of the shelf is a selfie she took with her, Adrien, Alya and Nino on a day out. They’re backdropped against a sunny sky and treetops, dressed in sturdy boots and light clothing. She knows they were exhausted by the time they got back down the mountain, but that one moment captured made it so worth the bruises and scrapes that her suit did not help heal.

It was the one day she’d gotten in a while to be a normal teenager. Now that everything is over, she and Chat Noir have a shot at that. “For what it’s worth,” she says quietly, “I’m glad you do have people you can trust.”

He looks over at the pictures with her. His eyes land on the same picture. He remembers Marinette setting up the phone against a rock and almost falling off the cliff in order to make the timer, and the waterfall they passed, and helping Alya over a boulder after the waterproofing in her boots failed because Nino was too weak.

He had to pass his strength off as a healthy workout for modeling. He could almost hear Plagg laughing at the thought. He smiles a little. It wasn’t all bad, he guesses. “Yeah. Me too.”

Ladybug starts inching for the door. “I’ll see you around, then. Probably within the next week if I can’t send Chat.”

Adrien nods. “Yeah. See you.” He weaves out to open the door for her. She waves and heads out.

As soon as the door closes, Nino peeks his head out of his own door. “You good?” he asks quietly. The smell of something cooking in the oven wafts into the living room.

“Fine, I guess.” He folds his arms. “I’m gonna, uh, go to the bathroom.”

He clicks the bathroom door shut and slides down against it. Plagg waits a second before coming out, and then just floats silently in front of him.

Adrien feels himself tearing up again. He hugs his knees to his chest and wipes at his cheeks. “Did you...know? That it was him?”

Plagg shakes his head. “We were looking just as hard as you were. If I knew-” He cuts himself off. “Well, I would’ve figured out some way to tell you or Ladybug. I wouldn’t let it go on this long.”

“Do you know Ladybug’s identity?”

“Yeah. Can’t tell you. I’ll get a single sound in and then get sick.” He shrugs.

Adrien shrugs back. “I don’t actually wanna know right now. I just...need to know she isn’t somebody else in my life that’s lying to me. Like I’ve been lying to everyone else.”

Plagg falls silent. He sits on Adrien’s knee. “You’re not the first to go through something like this. There’s been a few holders that watched their loved ones turn on them. All for different reasons, but it always hurts.”

There’s a little silence as Adrien waits for a consoling statement. That is, before he realizes Plagg is trying to be helpful in his own weird way. It is strangely comforting to know he’s not alone, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. “Were they ever able to save them?”

Another uneasy silence. The oven timer goes off. Nino’s mom shuffles out and back into her room. “Sometimes,” Plagg says finally. “It’s not an easy task to take on, kid. I’ve seen holders wear themselves to death over someone who doesn’t feel the same.”

“Do you think he’s that far gone?”

“I don’t know.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning of the biggest celebration in a long time, Ladybug and Chat Noir meet up.

Marinette wakes up the next morning with a stretch and a yawn. She slaps her phone screen to turn off her alarm. It’s three in the morning, which is at least a little earlier than her parents would start baking. Today, however, is special.

Last night, she bargained with her parents. She would help prepare everything and in the early rush so that she could enjoy the festivities with her friends by eleven. Meanwhile, she told her friends that she would be with family all day. Then she messaged Adrien separately and told him to reach out if he needed anything.

That also felt terrible. He was one of three people she’s wanted to tell her identity for years. Now, would he hate her? He didn’t seem mad at her yesterday, but maybe he was just in denial and hadn’t processed it yet. She and Chat took his father away from him. Not that he was fully present to begin with, but the thought still lodges something in her throat.

She doesn’t want to swing on rooftops and accept an award today. But she has to, and this will be the last time for a while. If she can get through today, it’ll all be over. Aside from patrolling, at least. Even that is on shaky ground. She doesn’t want to lose her partner, but she’s not sure she’s strong enough to reveal her identity to him either.

Marinette wipes her eyes and rolls over to look at her phone. Tikki is still sleeping soundly, doesn’t even stir when the screen blinds Marinette. She swears quietly and turns her brightness down. There’s a few notifications from the group chat after she went to bed early. And one notification from Adrien.

_Adrien [23:34]: can i ask a massive favor?_

Foreboding. She hopes his ringer won’t wake him up.

_Marinette [3:02]: Sure, what is it?  
Adrien [3:03]: i need an excuse to get out tomorrow._

Alright, now she’s just concerned. She sends her message back and starts getting dressed while she waits for a response.

_Marinette [3:03]: What do you mean?  
Marinette [3:03]: Also, sorry if I woke you up.  
Adrien [3:04]: i was already awake ;;  
Adrien [3:04]: nino wants to have the four of us at his house so we can just hang out and play video games or something. but i don’t really want to see anyone right now.  
Adrien [3:05]: i’m not asking to crash your family thing but can i tell nino and alya that i am and have you back me up?_

The fleeting thought crosses her that she should be worried about a villain tomorrow. It hits harder when she realizes she doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. At least Adrien won’t be influenced to do something he’ll regret. By his own father. No wonder he wants to be alone.

_Marinette [3:05]: Of course. I’ll be busy for most of the day so I can’t guarantee a text back or anything, but if it’s just the group chat that’s fine.  
Adrien [3:06]: thanks, i owe you one.  
Marinette [3:06]: Don’t worry about it. <3  
Marinette: [3:06]: Try to get some sleep though._

She knows he won’t. She just wants him to try. She ties her hair up and heads down. Her parents are already downstairs pulling down ingredients, and she jumps in right beside them.

The first coffee pot gets brewed two hours before opening. Marinette’s father pours her a cup. “For the special occasion,” he says with a grin. She thanks him and takes a sip.

Her mother waits until he’s out of the room to ask anything. They’re kneading dough side by side, Marinette humming the little tune absentmindedly. “Are you okay?” she asks. “You don’t have to go out with your friends if you don’t want to. We can cover for you. I know that man was a role model for you.”

Marinette’s kneading slows. The lump in her throat returns. She turns her head into her shoulder so she won’t get tears on the dough and have to start over. “I’m fine.” She sniffles and returns to kneading. “This is a victory. Papillon is gone, and Paris is safe again.”

Her mother stops altogether and faces her. “Marinette, it’s okay to be upset.” Her head tilts to get a better view of Marinette’s face.

Marinette just shakes her head. “I’m fine. There’s a lot of people that looked up to him. I’m just worried about the people that were close to him.”

“Other people’s suffering doesn’t mean yours is any less real.”

She stops kneading and takes a breath. “Mom, I know you’ve been subscribed to that inspirational quote thing for a while, and I really appreciate it. But really, I’m okay. I’m just worried about Adrien.”

Her mom doesn’t seem convinced, but she doesn’t push. She goes back to kneading, and so does Marinette after a minute. “Well. We can cover for him too. I’m sure that poor boy will have paparazzi hounding him for weeks.”

Chat might be a better bodyguard for him. He’s covered head to toe in a leather-looking catsuit, but at least it’s not bright red. He can be covert, even if he doesn’t act like it most of the time. Knowing he’ll be there today is one of the few things keeping Marinette sane.

She finishes kneading the bread, and finishes piping macaron cookies just as the timer on the first batch of cakes goes off.

Just like that, she settles back into the rhythm she’s worked on for years. She spirals around her family in the small kitchen with ease. Her anxieties about the day to come still kick at the back of her mind, but the rhythm eases them.

As soon as the store opens, they’re off like a rocket. Quite a few cakes, as expected. There’s plenty of Ladybug and Chat Noir themed cakes and cupcakes and macarons and everything else. She tries not to think about it too much, but it weighs on her like stone.

Her dad ends up dismissing her half an hour early. He sends her off with a bag of cupcakes that didn’t rise high enough and some misshapen cookies. The only reason she gets changed is for appearances’ sake. She pulls out a couple of the cookies and sets them on the desk.

“We’ll be out for a while,” she says to Tikki.

Tikki holds one of the cookies in her little paws and pauses. “Marinette?” she says quietly.

Marinette digs through her dresser, not looking directly at Tikki. “Yeah?”

“We need to talk at some point.” When she doesn’t get a response from Marinette, she takes a bite of her cookie. A minute later, she tries again. “Once you and Chat Noir find the Peacock Miraculous—”

“I know,” Marinette whispers. Her voice cracks and her hands are shaking already. “We’re not going to find it today, so we don’t need to talk about that right now.” She changes her shirt in record time. 

Tikki waits until Marinette is retying her hair to speak again. “Can you talk to him about it tonight?”

Marinette nods and grabs the comb for her bangs. “I will.” She looks in the mirror and takes a deep breath. “We can’t transform here.” She slings her purse over her shoulder and grabs the bag. “You ready?”

“As long as you are,” Tikki says. She stuffs the rest of the cookie in her mouth and brings the other one into Marinette’s open purse.

She waits a few blocks before hiding in a corner to transform. From there, she hides on rooftops, looking down below at the bustle of the city as she waits for Chat.

The city is more alive than she’s seen it in ages. Papillon had been more active than usual for the past year, which caused more people to be afraid, which gave him more victims. Now that he’s gone, maybe Paris won’t be such a fallen city.

“Enjoying the view, my lady?”

She turns around and sits on the ledge of the building. “I was just waiting for you.” She waits for him to sit beside her. “How was your night? Everything with your dad okay?” She doesn’t actually know much about her partner despite their attachment to each other. What she does know is that his father is ‘insanely overprotective.’ 

Her question definitely hits a nerve. Chat’s smile fades as he looks ahead. “It’s fine. I have an excuse to stay out for…” He pauses. “Well, probably until tomorrow morning.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry for leaving you to deal with everything.”

“It’s okay. We still have to find the Peacock Miraculous. That’s our final task. That and making sure Adrien stays safe until everything quiets down.” She kicks a rock across the rooftop. “I was hoping you could help out with that. I think his friends will be a lot of help, but we should both be there for him when they’re not around.”

Chat Noir doesn’t respond at first. He shifts his weight back and forth. “I…I can’t do that,” he says finally. It’s almost too quiet for her to hear.

Ladybug looks at him. “What? Why?” Her hands grip the ledge a little tighter.

He winces and looks at his feet. “If I tell you, it’ll make it easier to figure out who I am. Are you sure you wanna know?” He sees her hesitate out of the corner of his eye, and then nod. Just a few days ago, she probably would’ve said no. “I know Adrien. He’ll recognize me.”

Ladybug thinks about all the people she’s interacted with on both sides of the mask. She’s talked to her entire class before and nobody’s recognized her. Even Alya has all but given up her search for Ladybug’s true identity. She narrows her eyes at him. “Chat? I’ve interacted with my parents. And my best friend.” She purses her lips, debating on whether to admit the next part. Their biggest threat is gone, though. The walls are lower. “And Adrien, who I also know out of the mask.”

Chat freezes in place. He’s pretty sure his heart stops for a second. She what? What did she just say? Did she just- “Wait.” He shakes his head and looks at her. “You know Adrien?”

She blinks and leans back. “Yeah.”

“Like, you have interacted with Adrien outside of the mask and he knows you.” He’s absolutely bewildered. He’s met Ladybug outside of his superhero duties and didn’t know? He feels stupid. Did he really not recognize her.

“Chat, you’re scaring me.” She shifts away. She has no idea why he’s so insistent. He revealed that about himself. And besides, it’s Adrien Agreste. He’s got to know a lot of people.

Chat leans away. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just…” He takes a breath. “He really didn’t recognize you?”

“If he knows who I am, he hasn’t said anything to me.” She straightens back up. “I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you don’t tell him about your personal life. I’m actually surprised you haven’t had to interact with him before.”

Right, that. He got so caught up in the frenzy of knowing Ladybug in real life he forgot about the actually important part. He sighs. What’s he gonna tell her now? He can’t backtrack and say he lied, especially after that. Is she going to accept any explanation at this point? He looks over at her. “Do you trust me?”

She frowns. “Of course.” After all this time, there’s no way she couldn’t.

He takes her hands. “Then can you trust me when I say I can’t? I’ll do what I can, but I can’t interact with Adrien Agreste.” This feels worse than just telling her, but he doesn’t think he can handle that right now either.

Ladybug feels like she wants to cry. She grips his hands back. “Please tell me you were telling the truth when you said you know him and that wasn’t just a fake excuse.” 

“What? Of course I was telling the truth.” Kind of. A weird twist of the truth, but the truth nonetheless. 

“Oh, thank god.” Her shoulders drop and her head tilts back. “I know you would never lie to me. I just knew saying I knew him would be a really big risk.”

His thumb rubs against her hand, and a tiny smile curves onto his lips. “Sorry I reacted like that. I’m not going to dig, I promise. It just means we’re a lot closer than we thought, right?”

She looks at him. Her leg pulls up onto the ledge so she’s not twisting to face him anymore. “What do you mean?”

“One degree of separation. In all of Paris, there’s at least one person we have in common.” Maybe more. 

She lets a hefty breath out. There’s a possibility they’ve met before, even, without realizing it. The idea swirl in her mind, creating a feeling she can’t quite decipher. It’s both comforting and thrilling. On one hand, he’s so close and she has someone to rely on who she doesn’t even realize. On the other, he’s so close and they’ve been so potentially vulnerable this whole time. And for that degree of separation to be Adrien of all people. “And he’s going to be okay.”

She sounds like she’s convincing not only Chat, but herself. She’s searching in his eyes for some confirmation. He doesn’t have that. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do now, aside from sleep on Nino’s couch for a while and cry at his father’s court date. 

He knows she at least cares, though. He nods. He lets go of her hands to scoot closer and lean in for a hug. Her arms wrap around him without question. He feels her hand rub circles in his back.

She has no idea how he knows Adrien, but he feels for him too. She sighs. “Do you think he hates us?”

He pulls away, one hand still on her shoulder. He looks like a kicked kitten. “Why would he?”

“We got his dad arrested, Chat. And Nathalie. And his mom is gone.” She tilts her head back. He realizes it’s a habit that Alya and Marinette both have. The staving off of tears so it doesn’t skew their mascara. He picked it up from them too, for shoots that went on for way too long in clothes he hated. 

He wonders how long it’s going to take before he breaks and tells her that he was complicit. “We couldn’t have known,” he says. 

“There had to be something,” she says with a broken voice.

He huffs a bitter laugh. “I’ll be honest. I did not sleep at all last night because I was scrolling through the Ladyblog trying to find something.” His heart hurts thinking about a few of the villains and how close they got. “He made himself a villain at one point. I mean, do you remember Jackady?”

“God—” She groans. “Yeah, I remember.” She sucks in a gasp of air. “He tried to look at my earrings.”

“I shook his hand,” Chat says. “I was less than two minutes away from detransforming and I shook his hand. He could’ve slipped it right off.” He pauses. “I think he might have if you weren’t right there.”

Ladybug puts a hand over her mouth. She feels like she’s going to be sick with the thought. “I thought he was just intrigued by the design or something.”

“Neither of us knew.” He lets the hand on her shoulder fall to grab her hand again. She grabs it, and he spends a minute looking at their hands. 

Someone screams joyfully from the street below. Ladybug sighs. “We should go soon. They’re probably waiting for us at the park.”

“Put your game face on, Bugaboo.” He plasters his own smile on as he leaps to his feet, pulling her with him. Together, they run to the edge of the rooftop and jump to the next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started watching season three while in the middle of writing this fic so continuity might be funky. Consider it unreliable narrators. Four years is a lot, right?

**Author's Note:**

> I have like 20k words written already so strap in because I have a lot.  
> Scream to me on twitter at @kaijukebox <3


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